The Idiot spent his first few days in Egypt tracing Alexander The Great’s footsteps and appearances on the Nile River rather than returning to Gaza to walk across the Sinai Peninsula on the Mediterranean Sea to Alexandria, Egypt.

The reason?

He wanted time to assess much-touted security risks in the Sinai where (1) ISIS is present, (2) bedouins have been kidnapping foreigners, (3) the Egyptian military doesn’t like interlopers and (4) government permission is required.

First, he checked out the street action in Cairo to gauge the Egyptian mood almost six years after the Arab Spring revolution unseated the Egyptian president and turned the country upside down.

He visited a peaceful Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands of Egyptians demonstrated during the Arab Spring revolution in January 2011.

Despite the substantial road block at the American Embassy in Cairo, Egyptian security guards assured him that everything is normal.

Recalling food riots in the past, he visited markets to determine that there was no visible shortage of bread, sugar or other staples.

He even asked about the price of a bus ticket (15 U.S. cents) to ensure that increased inflation and cost hikes wouldn’t create another revolution.

Feeling confident, he sought Alexander the Great himself to determine where he thought The Idiot should begin the actual MedTrek in Egypt.

He found him first at the Pyramids in Giza, which Alexander the Great saw in 331 BC. Despite a 90 percent drop in tourism since 2010, Alexander seemed pretty cheerful.

After a bonding discussion with Alexander at the pyramids…

…The Idiot went to the Egyptian Museum to visit the Greco-Roman room and…

…considered it a favorable omen when he discovered…

….a wonderful alabaster head of Alexander as he looked when he arrived in Egypt at the ripe age of twenty-four.

Then The Idiot dropped in on Memphis, the ancient capital where Alexander made a sacrifice to the gods, and they had a peaceful chat in a garden.

Meeting Alexander the Great in Memphis (no, not Tennessess).

And what advice did Alexander give The Idiot about where to start the MedTrek?

“Conntinue up the Nile to visit monuments in Egypt associated with me and you’ll find the answer,” said Alexander, who’s place in history fell equidistant between the first dynasty in Egypt and the first female president in the United States.

Here’s where The Idiot is today.

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."